Old Russian Warheads Power 10% Of America

Under a soon-to-be defunct program between Washington and Moscow,
Russian nuclear warheads have produced nearly 50% of America's
nuclear energy, US Acting Under Secretary of State for
Arms Control
Rose Gottemoeller told a United Nations committee in New
York today.

“Over the past 15 years, nuclear fuel from this source has
accounted for approximately 10 percent of all electricity
produced in the United States,” Gottemoeller said.

Under a landmark 1993 nonproliferation deal, the United
States has purchased uranium derived from around 20,000 Russian
nuclear warheads eliminated under the accord – informally known
as the “Megatons to Megawatts” program – and converted the
material into nuclear fuel to be used by nearly all US nuclear
power plants, Gottemoeller told the committee.

Gottemoeller called it an "under the radar" agreement, sort of
like the "open
skies" program which allows each country to fly surveillance
flights over the other (not to say much about underground
facilities).

The program — which the U.S. spent $8 billion on so far
— is
due to expire in December of this year, and Gottemoeller is
on a crusade of sorts to continue reducing the nuclear stockpiles
to reflect post "Cold War" postures.